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Nuke plant pact with Russia will have to wait Moscow, October 20 India, however, is expected to acquire on lease a nuclear submarine from Russia, a deal for which may be finalised soon. Manmnohan Singh arrived at the Vanakova airport on Sunday for the 14th annual summit with Russia scheduled for tomorrow. The Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov received the Prime Minister who characterised bilateral relations and the summit as an important feature of special and privileged strategic partnership. In a statement, the Prime Minister said the he will convey to President Vladimir Putin the importance India attaches to its relations with Russia and use the visit to strengthen the partnership in every possible way. "India and Russia have always had a convergence of views on global and regional issues, and we value Russia's perspective on international developments of mutual interest," the statement said. While five agreements are scheduled to be signed during the Summit, the pact for supply of two new reactors for Kudnamkulam nuclear power project 3 and 4 is ready in text but not cleared by the legal teams on either side. Sources in the government said while the "text is agreed", the one pertaining to liability has not yet cleared. They said the text is with the lawyers of both sides and the government is waiting for them to give the go ahead. "It (deal) is very close. We have settled most of the issues except one. It is now with the lawyers of both sides to clear it. So we are waiting for them to actually tell us," said sources. In any case, the pact between the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and Rosatom would not be signed during this visit because it is a commercial agreement, they said.Russia, like the United States, is not comfortable with the new set of additional reactors coming under the new nuclear civil liability preferring it to be covered under the Intergovernmental agreement on the issue. New Delhi sought to address concerns of Moscow suggesting that the liability could be limited to the suppliers default in case of equipment failure and the public sector insurance company was tasked to work out details on both the quantum and premium for insurance. The five bilateral pacts on the anvil, include a treaty on transfer of sentenced persons, programme of cooperation in the fields of science, technology and innovation, cooperation in the field of bio-technology, memorandum of understanding to enhance cooperation in the field of energy savings and efficiency, and another to facilitate technical cooperation in the field of standardisation. The move to acquire the second nuclear submarine from Russia comes two months after the Navy's frontline Russian- origin Kilo Class INS Sindhurakshak submarine sank at the Mumbai harbour after an explosion suspected to have occurred in its torpedo section. A proposal in this regard was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister in its recent meeting. The deal is expected to cost India more than Rs 6,000 crore, said highly-placed government sources told PTI. The Indian Navy is already operating one Akula II Class nuclear submarine--Nerpa. The over 8,000-tonne warship was inducted in April last year at the Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command and renamed 'INS Chakra'. (With PTI inputs)
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